Sermon- Jeff Raines - Christmas Reflection [John 3:16]

First Baptist Shreveport

Today is the third Sunday in Advent when we light the candle of love. What is Christmas if not a story of love reaching across time and space and dimensions - from the heavenly realm to the earthly? When the Bible wants to describe the divine motivation for all that Jesus has done, it goes to this:
"For God so LOVED the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16
It is God's love that sparked the birth of Christ and the celebration that we have today and this week. As we read through the stories in Matthew and Luke, we find stories of love in the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men- God's love moving them all. God's love moves us at Christmas. God's love transcends time. We will reenact the manger scene and place ourselves in that moment on Christmas Eve, drawn by the love of God as if time compresses at Christmas. We look back 2,000 years and we also look forward to the promise return of Christ again and the fresh gift of resurrection life and the hopes that he brings.
God's vision of love is to lift up those who are broken and to heal the sick and the struggling and to give hope to the hopeless and peace to those who are exhausted by violence. God's love in Jesus is here to make the desert places in your heart bloom with life.
For God so LOVED the world...